For years we have gone to the coast near St David's, Pembrokeshire,
West Wales. It's a great place for family holidays, it's unspoilt within
a national park. Over the years we had heard that a wartime aircraft had
crashed on the high crag above the coastline. As rumours were so varied,
and even a local writer had published completely inaccurate information
about the tragic aircraft, I set out to research what had really
happened. As I have always been interested in flying, it became quite a
quest! My boys, and some friends also were keen to find out what the
truth really was. Over the years walking and climbing over that
beautiful spot, in summer weather, a few fragments of the aircraft would
be found, and that would lead to more questions from my boys and a
greater resolve to learn more. After nine years or so, with the help of
another researcher, the exact aircraft has now been identified. It was a
USAAF Martin Marauder B-26C that crashed whilst on the final stage of a
ferry flight to the UK from the States via S America and Africa. The
crew had taken off from Port Lyauty (now Kenitra), Morocco bound for St
Eval in Cornwall (South West England). The flight would have been approx
1070 to 1090 nautical miles, I guess mostly over water. If you look at a
map, it looks like they missed St Eval. I now have a copy of the actual
accident investigation report from the USAF Safety Agency. On that day,
the 4th June 1943, the crag in Pembrokeshire was obscured in cloud, the
B-26 struck at high speed; nobody stood a chance. It's strange, but when
I saw the names of the crew on the report for the first time, it was as
if they were friends that I had never met. Largely due to the work of
researcher Steve Jones, the full names and details of the crew are now
known. Lt Robertson was buried at the American Military Cemetery at
Cambridge, and I have visited his grave. The other three were returned
to the US, after the war, for burial.

A Memorial Ceremony for the crew is to be held on the 4th of June
2005 at Whitesands Bay near St David's Pembokeshire.

The timing will coincide with the time that the aircraft crashed,
1615 hours. A propeller from the aircraft, found a few years ago on the
hillside, has been protectively treated and will form part of the
lasting memorial to the fallen crew.